H.K Morrison: Mistress of Peril

Good morning/afternoon/evening! As always, dependent on the time you are reading this. I waited to post this after 12am as I did not want two posts in one day (I have done that too regularly in the past few weeks).

This Monday post has had a little shake up. This has nothing to do with me but all about an amazing woman and her book! I met this lady over on the world of Twitter. She posts amusing, thought provoking and cute tweets, is supportive and a lovely human being! She also has adorable pets! I volunteered to beta read for her, which was idiotic on my part for my own deadlines, but I pushed things back and took time to read it. Oh my, and what a read it was. So allow me to continue.

The Book: Mistress of Peril by H.K Morrison

  

“The Government has issued an evacuation for the Eastern seaboard. The new spread of rabies virus dubbed ‘the zombie virus’ by media is airborne. Remain calm and pack two-three days worth of staples and water while your county evacuates towns to the designated location. If you experience fatigue, hallucinations, or episodes of rage. Please see your local CDC medical facility that is now located in all major cities along the eastern seaboard. In further news to…”

That’s the first paragraph and introduction to the book. It grabbed me by the throat and pulled me in straight away. From there, I was introduced to Sage, the main character. I enjoyed following her on her up and down journey to find her out what had happened to her twin. I found myself rooting for the character from the bat as she was likeable and had flaws. Sage was real! 

The world had fallen apart and the writing was so fluid and descriptive, when I pulled away from the story I feared the world outside was infested. H.K Morrison has a knack for detail and I could visualise every movement and action. 

The story is in a third person perspective which introduced new characters throughout. My favourite was Bones, a mutated creature that had his own battles and ways. Another interesting individual is Orion who I wanted to know much more about and gave me even more reason to keep reading. I shouted at the pages at times when the chapter ended leaving it on a cliffhanger. My nights became endless (Thank you, Heaven.)

The story included sporadic expletives which were well placed along with sexual content (it is a lesbian fiction novel) that had the right amount of detail and at times got me hot under the collar. At times it even made me annoyed with the arrogant and sadistic Keel, so the author delivered superbly on all fronts.

The Chapter titles are apt, and a couple of my favourites are: Into the Den and Monsters Closet.

Overall I class this as a must read, definitely if you enjoy great character development, the apocalypse and an adventure. I cannot wait till this is published as I will buy a copy on release day.

H.K Morrison bio and Q&A

  

How adorable is that picture? 😍 I know, right? I have been communicating more and more with Heaven and she gets more interesting by the day. So here is a short bio and she even kindly answered some questions for me to include on this post. 

Heaven lives with her fiancé, Ashley, in Raleigh NC. By day she is an assistant manager and a writer in her spare time. She loves animals and has quite the array in her apartment that include: a ball python, crested geckos, leopard geckos, and a tegu along with her more “normal” pets: her two dogs and a cat. She has a fondness for essential oils and loves being adventurous. Someday, she hopes to be a full time writer and a world traveler. 

1/ Which person(s) has/have inspired you the most? 

              Quite a few people have inspired me and helped mold me into the person I am today. First and foremost, my parents. Both have taught me to strive foreword no matter what and not to give into pressure, whatever it may encompass. As a writer, I know I should have more authors who have inspired me, but I’ll be completely honest: Steve Irwin was a major model in my life. He taught me the world is beautiful in its many forms and there is so much out there to experience. No matter how hard the fight, its worth it in the end.

2/ If the theme in your story happened in real life, what would be the one book you would want to save?

As dorky as it sounds (I’m a huge nerd) I would save a picture book of the Earth. If our life decayed into a wasteland, I would want something to remind me of its beauty. And the beauty that it can become if everyone could band together against a common advisory. 

3/If we were to meet, what hot drink would you have and the three topics of conversation?

I would get a Sumatra roast coffee with soy milk and one packet of sugar in the raw! I would probably talk about earth science first and foremost, traveling, then animals! As stated before, I’m a giant nerd. Just today I went the the Musuem of Natural Science here in Raleigh, just to go watch the sloth get fed. Yeah, I’m that kid. 
NB I wish I could have tagged along to the Museum! 

4/ What prompted you to write the Mistress of Peril?

NaNoWriMo actually spurred me to write it. Before Mistress of Peril, I never actually finished anything I wrote. I wanted to prove to myself I could write something. I’ve always wanted to write something that has to do with the Earth and how we abuse it, but also bring in a light of hope because nothing and no one is ever too late to save. 

5/ How old were you when you realized that writing was your calling?

My mom had said I was writing short stories when I was five or six. I had a crazy imagination. I wrote my first fifty page story when I was in sixth grade. Ever since then, I would write simply to write. My love for writing really surfaced my first year of college when my teacher submitted my descriptive essay into a publisher and it got selected to be in a college book! 

6/ If you were to recommend three writers and three novels, not neccesarily linked, who and what would they be?

I have an affinity for LGBTQ books so the three writers I am currently in love with are Heather McVea, Radcliffe writing as L.L. Raand, and Julie Kirton Chandler. Because they are my favorite authors at the moment, each of them have a special place for me. My favorite novels are Lyovitalis, The Midnight Hunter series, and Veritas. 

7/ Bones was my favourite character, and Sage was a close second. Out of the characters, which was the most fun to write? And which one was the hardest?

I would have to say I adore writing in Orion she’s so fun. She’s rough around the edges and so sarcastic. She has her own demons she’s working through and to see her struggling with them while trying to find out she isn’t a monster is endearing to me and I love to write out her cocky attitude! Sage is actually extremely difficult, ironically. She’s very complex and it’s hard to portray every aspect of her. She’s confident but unsure, flighty but a spit fire. I think she portrays a basic human being, everyone has their doubts, everyone has their moments of clarity. It’s her complexities that are hard to write in. 

8/When are you hoping for the book to be released?

I submitted my manuscript to a couple agents, but I actually submitted my full manuscript strictly to Bold Strokes Books who’s a leading publisher for LGBTQ. Regardless of outcome, Im looking to hopefully get it in the publication process by summertime. 

I would like to thank Heaven for the time and patience to answer the questions in full and give an insight in to her life and her writing process. She is recently engaged and would like to congratulate her. Her fiancée is a very lucky lady 🙂

You can find H.K Morrison on Twitter @TheArdentPen 

Thank you for reading 🙂